Sinful Magic Read Online Free PDF Page A

bells banged in her head, brutally intensifying her headache. She wasn’t dealing with a wild-eyed fanatic, but something much more deadly. “Witch hunter,” she whispered, trembling harder.
    “Yes.” He had his arms crossed over his chest, the muscles popping and shifting. Finally he held out one hand, palm up. He caught hold of her wrist, tugging it up. “Touch them, they’re real.”
    He settled her fingers on his palm. She swept the pads of her fingers over the curving lines, the dips and ridges arcing over his calloused hand and creating a sensual heat deep in her belly. He wasn’t rogue; she could feel and see the evidence of that. When rogues killed an earth witch, they lost their souls and therefore, their lifelines. They also usually smelled like copper, not a rich, red wine like this man.
    “Keep touching me like that
    ”
    She jerked her gaze up to his face at the groan in his voice.
    His gray eyes had flecks of blue as he finished his sentence, “
    and I’ll take those wet clothes off for you.”
    Her heart hammered in her chest, her body coiled tight, and she wanted to feel the texture of his palms brushing all over her skin. Shame had her jerk her hand away, breaking all contact.
    She was allowing her baser hormones to control her!
    He turned and reached for a thick white robe hanging on the back of the door and tossed it on the counter beside her. “Get out of those wet clothes and put this on.” He pulled open the door, slipped out, and closed it.
    What had she almost done? Humiliation bent her over, and she forced herself to take deep breaths. He’d just been showing her his lifelines and she’d wanted to jump him. With Kieran gone, her headache and queasiness returned. She felt weak and shaky. Standing up, she debated her options. She could see from the black and gold logo on the robe that she was still in the Mystique hotel. Every room she’d seen in this hotel had the bathroom off the foyer of the room by the door to the hallway. Maybe she could go out the door, turn right, and make it to the hallway door before Muscle Man out there stopped her.
    Witch hunter! They were supernaturally fast and strong; this was really bad news. What did he want? She couldn’t figure it out. If the bloodlust from the curse was driving him to kill her, he wouldn’t worry about her drying off and getting warm. Or showing her his lifelines.
    Trembling with cold, and wincing from the rapid pounding in her head, she knew the smart thing would be to get dry, put on the robe, go out into the foyer, and then figure out how to get away. Even if Kieran meant no harm, he was still dangerous to her.
    After stripping and drying off, she tossed down the towel and slipped into the warm robe. The mirror showed her pale face, huge eyes, and a scraggly, half-gone ponytail. She tugged out the band and finger-combed the worst of the tangles, then gave up. Given her circumstances, it was better to go with the unattractive drowned-rat look.
    Steeling herself to find a way to get out of this mess, she opened the door and stepped out into the foyer.
    A scream locked in her throat.
    Staring back from the wall across the hallway was a life-sized nude drawing of herself with hideous, bleeding cuts all over her.
    Oh sweet crone! He was a lunatic! Terror burned through her, pounding her heart, roaring in her ears. Run! She whirled to her right and ran for the door five feet away.
    Inches away from freedom, she was body-slammed into the door. It took her a full second to realize that the man had caught her face with his palm and had his arm around her waist preventing her from actually hitting the door. She was pinned so tightly, she couldn’t even move her legs.
    But she sure as hell could feel his thick, heavy erection pressing against her back.
    Had she screamed? Would help come?
    Or was she going to die here, right beneath her bloody, hideous picture drawn on the wall?
    Key had seen the panic hit Roxy as soon as she saw the drawing. He caught her before